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Chapter 355 Question ()

Jiang Shaohua suppressed his anger, comforted the two old people with a gentle voice, and then went to the old man's home to take a look around.

The hastily built hut has light and air from all sides. It's a hot summer day, so it doesn't matter. When it gets cold or cloudy and rains, there will definitely be a cool breeze.

Looking at the wells used by the hungry people, there are only two wells in a village of several hundred people. We have to queue up every day to fetch water.

The roads in the village are also in a mess and emit some unpleasant stench.

Jiang Shaohua turned around for a long time, his expression getting worse and worse.

Chen Jinyu couldn't help but mutter a few words: "This environment is really bad."

Of course, for the sheltered hungry people, having food, shelter, food and land to cultivate is a step from hell to heaven. In these days, I am lucky to be able to survive. How can I dare to ask for the environment?
Jiang Shaohua snorted lightly: "Go and have a look in the fields again."

When we got to the edge of the field, we discovered even more problems.

In a large wasteland, farmers were either weeding with their heads down, or pulling wooden plows to cultivate the land. Jiang Shaohua and his entourage showed up, and everyone hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed.

"Everyone, get up." Jiang Shaohua was full of energy and his voice reached everyone's ears: "This princess is here to see you. You don't need to panic. Just do whatever you want."

The people kowtowed a few more times before standing up in twos and threes. While doing the work in his hands, he quietly turned his head and looked around.

"Is this Princess Nanyang?"

"It must be so. There is only one princess in Nanyang County. Also, we must be called princess from now on."

"We were desperate, but it was the princess who took us in, built us a house to live in, gave us food, and even distributed grain seeds. Half of the land we cultivated belonged to herself. How could there be such a good princess in the world!"

Jiang Shaohua's ears were very sensitive, and the whispers of the common people reached his ears one after another. She felt a little sad as she listened.

What the people want is that simple. Having a place to live, land to cultivate, and food to eat is the best life.

Such a simple request has become a luxury in the north where drought, locust plagues and wars are widespread.

"Prince Tang," Jiang Shaohua said briefly, "go and ask who is responsible for reclaiming the wasteland. Why is there only a wooden plow here and not even a plowing ox?"

Underneath the princess's calm tone, there was anger surging.

Tang Youyin Surong took the order. He has worked in Xi'e County Government Office for ten years and is very familiar with everyone in the County Government Office. When I ran to the field and asked around, I found out who was in charge.

What a coincidence, this person is Tang Youyin's cousin. At that time, two brothers were working in the county government, one was a senior official and the other was a small official.

Nowadays, the little Tang Secretary has entered the palace as an errand, and the big Tang Secretary is still in the Xi'e County Yamen, receiving the errand of coming to the fields every day to supervise the work.

"Cousin, if the princess has something to ask, please report it in full and don't hide a word." Tang Youyin ordered with a serious look on his face.

The big soup official responded with one mouthful.

When he arrived in front of the princess, he really didn't hide anything at all. He made it clear about the county government's deceptions: "Magistrate Zou's methods of pacifying the hungry people were all learned from Magistrate Cai of Li County." . However, there will inevitably be some deviations in the actual implementation.”

"The person in charge of building thatched huts was perfunctory. The person who distributed the rations paid them as they were at first, but in the past two months he began to withhold the rations. The saved grains were quietly converted into money."

"Xiao Xiao is responsible for reclaiming wasteland. He doesn't dare to slack off and comes to inspect the fields every day. In the past two years, the county government promoted new shaft plows, and the old wooden plows were put away in the warehouse. Xiao Xiao He gave them wooden plows. However, the issue of cattle was really difficult to solve. "There are no cattle in the county government. About five households in Xi'e have one, but they are afraid of it." He damaged the cow and refused to lend it to him.”

Jiang Shaohua glanced lightly: "Is it the same over in Li County?"

When the princess glanced at him like this, the official of Tang Dynasty suddenly broke into a cold sweat on his back. He replied in a low voice: "I heard that over in Li County, Magistrate Cai specially negotiated with the people to rent cattle for farming, and they would use two kilograms of grain per day. This grain They are all from the county government.”

There is no need to say the next words.

Xi'e County Government does not have that much food, or in other words, Magistrate Zou cannot afford it.

The hungry people who reclaimed the wasteland had no complaints. In their view, it is unthinkable for the county government to distribute rations to the house. How dare you think of anything else.

Jiang Shaohua's eyes cooled slightly: "I, the princess, know about this matter. When I return to the county office in the evening, I will ask Magistrate Zou about it."

Poor Mr. Zou, wish yourself good luck!
Tang Youyin and his cousin looked at each other silently, sighing in unison.

……

Magistrate Zou's eyelids twitched all day and he was restless.

In the evening, the princess returned to the county government office, and this bad premonition immediately came true. Tang Youyin held the account book in front of Magistrate Zou and winked.

Magistrate Zou's heart skipped a beat when he heard the princess ask coldly: "Magistrate Zou, the difference between the daily rations recorded in the account book and the actual number distributed to the people is half. Are you aware of this matter?"

The cold sweat on Magistrate Zou's forehead instantly fell, and he hurriedly knelt down to plead guilty: "My lord, please calm down. I really don't know about this."

Jiang Shaohua sneered: "You are the parent official of Xi'e, and this matter is right under your nose, and you don't know anything about it? You are really confused!"

Magistrate Zou felt like crying, but he didn't dare to shirk his responsibility. He just knelt down to plead guilty and asked the princess to take heavy responsibility.

Jiang Shaohua ignored Magistrate Zou and gave an order: "Pass this princess' oral instructions and ask everyone in the county government office to come to the main hall."

The princess gave the order, and in less than one stick of incense, everyone in the county government came to the main hall.

In a county government office, there are four official officials of high rank, as well as six office clerks and government servants, etc., totaling more than twenty people.

The princess' face was expressionless and her eyes were cold, while Magistrate Zou was kneeling with a face as pale as the ground. When everyone saw the battle, their hearts skipped a beat and they all knelt down.

"Director Tang, give the account books to Chief Zhao for a look."

Jiang Shaohua ordered coldly. Tang Youyin respectfully accepted the order and immediately held the account book in front of Master Zhao.

The chubby Mr. Zhao was sweating like a waterfall on his forehead and almost fainted.

He was the one responsible for distributing food rations to the hungry people. Of course he knows best about the problems in the account books.

"Master Zhao," Jiang Shaohua stared at the pale Master Zhao and asked slowly: "There are more than a thousand people, each person has one kilogram of food a day. Withholding half of it is more than five hundred kilograms, and ten days is five thousand kilograms." . After two months, it will be thirty stones.”

"Now that the price of food is soaring, so much food, if converted into silver, is at least two to three hundred taels."

"In total, it's almost your annual salary."